“Russian nuclear test chief says Moscow is ready to resume testing ‘at any moment’” is the headline on a Reuters wire which quotes Rear Admiral Andrei Sinitsyn, the head Russia’s nuclear testing facility, who “gave a rare interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Russian government’s official newspaper, which was published on Tuesday [Sept. 17], days after Putin warned the West it would be directly fighting with Russia if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles and spoke of retaliation.”
Moscow has not conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1990, and Reuters points out that “a nuclear test by Russia could encourage others such as China or the United States to follow suit, starting a new nuclear arms race between the big powers, which stopped nuclear testing in the years after the Soviet collapse.… `The test site is ready for resumption of full-scale testing activities. It is ready in its entirety. Laboratory and testing facilities are ready. The personnel are ready. If the order comes, we can start testing at any moment,’ said Sinitsyn.”
